the things we think but do not say

Just days before I made my mileage run, I went online and searched for any more information about airmiles in general. The most interesting place I found was the Flyer Talk forums. This place is an incredible resource for anyone who has airmiles with any major airline, has a credit card that gives miles or really anyone that’s into getting a good deal.

But in an act of shameless self promotion, I made a post to this forum just after finishing my movie to see what sort of reception I might get, from an audience already primed for these things. Well, for a brief time, I felt like da bomb. The post itself was a hit amongst the frequent flyer forum crowd (very influential in some circles) and the post was read about 3000 times.

My server got hammered. The file was downloaded about 1000 times and I maxed out my monthly allowance. I felt like I’d made it!

I may never have that sort of mini celebrity status again. Ahh… the thrill of very obscure and pointless fame.

mileage run

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

At the time this seemed to make a lot of sense.

At the end of December 2004 I realised that I was some 5000 air miles shy of making “Premier Executive” status with United. This was the closest I’ve ever been. The best benefit of being Premier is getting 100% bonus miles for every trip.

So what to do… how do I get 5000 miles? It’s a number game in the end. The most miles, in the shortest time, spending the least amount of money.

So I rang up United customer service and explained my situation and found to me surprise that this is in fact a very common request and the phenomena is called doing a “Mileage Run”.

So the plan was this: Travel on Christmas Day and go from Chicago, to Oakland, to Los Angeles, then to Las Vegas, stay for 5 hours, then head back to Chicago. All within 24hrs.

The idea I had just before I took this stupid trip was to try to document the entire day so I could try to make a movie from it. And thankfully it was the only thing that saved me, since by the end of it, I became completely sick of travelling. Over the course of those 20 hrs, I took over 300 photos with my trusty Nikon D70.

Now, months on, have I got much to show for it?

Fuck all.

But was it worth it?

Hell yeah!

See Mileage Run The Movie here. It’s a 4mb zip file that expands into a Quicktime movie file. The soundtrack was “Run” by Ghostface. I heard it Just minutes before I left the house and it seemed perfect.

elephant sculpture sconce

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.



Wow. This is priceless. Who would have ever thought to mix the majesty and grace of a mighty Elephant with an original interior lighting solution?

The elephant, an animal that plays an important role in the ecosystem of the planet is seen here for the first time as the true light bearer that this wondrous creature really is.

It really captures the circle of life here. Elephant eats the grass and plants, the elephant dies, the plants and grass then in turn consume the elephant and then the dead elephant’s head is used as a candle stick holder.

WTF?

I will buy a pair of these sconces for the first person that can send me a real photo of an actual owner standing smugly next to this piece

Get yourself one here:


Elephant Sculptural Wall Sconce
Add the flicker of candlelight to sculpture with this piece paying tribute to one of nature’s most splendid creatures. Our Elephant sculpture trunk is curled around the torch meant to hold your taper candle. This Design Toscano exclusive is cast in designer resin. Candles not included. 12 1/2″ W x 8″ D x 9 1/2″H. (2 lbs. )

My apolgies for everyone (or is that anyone?) that came and tried to read, but saw a crap Error message from Blogsome.

Apparently someone tried to hack the site. Who the hell tries to hack a small independent bloging site?

Well we’re back up it seems.

thanks for coming back.